May 18, 2025 at Saint William Parish in Naples, FL
Acts 14: 21-27 + Psalm 145 + Revelation 21: 1-5 + John 13:31-33, 34-35
Five words spoken by Jesus in that upper room shape the future as his death looms in the darkness. Those five words define our lives, and form our faith. He speaks about love in that room as he had before. “Love your neighbor as yourself,” “Love God with all your heart, your soul and your strength.” But this time, there are five words spoken that change everything about love. AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.
This is something new. It is not recommendation, a goal, or advise. It is a Commandment, and about a new kind of love. It is the kind of love that Jesus has shown us. When lived it becomes a manifestation of the very core of who God is. It is an invitation to abide in a deep relationship with God – the very same relationship that Jesus experienced. The only way to know that relationship is to love as we have been loved.
It is hard enough to love those who are like us. Those of you here with a spouse know that only too well. Loving each other is no easy task day in and day out. If loving those who are like us or those who love us is hard, how can we possibly love those who are different? To make it even harder, how can we love those who do not love us? Yet, the commandment has been given.
Loving as Jesus loves involves loving the unloved and the unlovable. Loving as Jesus loves is not about sentimental warm cozy feelings. That kind of love is there as long we get something out of it, and when that stops, so does that love. The love Jesus has shown us and commands is a love that gets nothing in return except a deep and profound intimacy with God. God’s love expressed through our love is about welcoming a stranger, opening doors for the homeless, the outcast, the refugee, the least, the last, and the lost. That is the way God loves, and if we are to be counted among the disciples of Jesus and continue his presence now that he has returned to the Father, that is the way we will live and love.
This new law of love creates a new heaven and a new earth where women and men are equally respected, all nations and tongues are welcomed, and the color of skin means nothing except remind us of God’s creativity. This is clearly a city that comes down from above not made by human hands. It is a city that embraces all who come to it, a city loved by God. When this new commandment is kept, the new age has dawned and we shall know God by living that love. No longer is it necessary for the risen Lord to be present to us anymore, because Christ lives through us as much as for us.